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Another Drive-by Shooting Aimed At Apple

Name another technology gadget maker that gets shot at as much as Apple? Microsoft? Puhleeze. Google? The search engine giant is an advertising company posing as a technology wannabe company.

Apple gets shot at by drive-by specialists more often than company I know and the same shooters show up every few weeks with something else to aim toward One Infinite Loop. Here’s another one and this time it’s a shot at something that does not exist at Apple and never did.

It. Just. Works.

What Apple does is somewhat unique among technology companies these days. Apple designs, builds, and distributes the whole widget. If the company could pile up sand at one end of a factory and ship out fully manufactured iPhones, Macs, and iPads at the other end it would. Apple’s brand is outsized relative to marketshare but it’s always been that way. That tight integration of hardware and software caused many users to say ‘It just works.’ Historically, ‘it just works’ works better than Android smartphones or Windows PCs and apparently the mantra holds true on Watch.

The problem here is this. ‘It just works’ is not an official Apple slogan, even when something does just work. ZDNet’s Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, an official member of the technorati elite politburo and graduate of the nattering nabobs of negativism regarding all things Apple, is out with another drive-by shooting.

I didn’t spend the big dollars of Apple hardware only to have to put up with continual software headaches.

This is the phrase that Steve Jobs trotted out year after year to describe products or services that he was unveiling. The phrase expressed what Apple was all about — selling technology that solved problems with a minimum of fuss and effort on the part of the owner.

What’s changed? Nothing. Just works still just works about the way it always has, but Apple had a bad week with a few software upgrades, and when that happens it’s time for such nabobs to dig through their index cards to trot negative bias missives and take a few potshots at Apple, Inc.

Just over the past few weeks we seen both macOS and iOS hit by several high profile bugs. And what’s worse is that the fixes that Apple pushed out — in a rushed manner — themselves caused problems.

That has never ever in the history of technology ever happened to Apple. Ever.

I’ve written at length about how it feels like the quality of software coming out of Apple has deteriorated significantly in recent years.

Feels like? How about if we ask for some math? Is there a list of such bugs? Yes. Apple keeps one. It’s almost publicly visible. How does the bounty of bugs in 2017 compare to the bounty of bugs in 2016? Or, 2014? Or 2010?

As usual with drive-by shootings true comparisons are difficult to come by because that would require actual effort to dig up to, you know, compare. Instead, we’re treated to negative bias missives that can be written up by the dozen in 20-minutes or so.

All this makes missteps such as the ones that users have had to endure feel like Apple has taken its eye off the ball, and that it’s perhaps putting increased effort into developing and selling new products at the expense of keeping users happy.

And, yet, here we are with Apple’s customers the most satisfied, with sales records for Macs and iPhones and Watch and AirPod and even iPad owns the tablet segment of the industry. Software and hardware bugs are the norm for the industry, Apple included. What is important is how well everything works together, how quickly Apple gets out fixes and repairs, and how customers respond.

Oh, and while we’re at it nattering nabobs of negativism, how about doing some cross platform comparisons instead of just driving down One Infinite Loop to shoot at the first Apple sign you see. Or, maybe we could coax CEO Tim Cook to change the mantra to ‘It just works most of the time.‘ Plenty of Windows PC users and Android smartphone owners would appreciate that.

I think Apple needs to take a long, hard look at itself in the run up to 2018 and work out what’s been going wrong and come up with ways to prevent problems from happening in the future.

As if Apple pays no attention to what goes on. Back when Steve Jobs bellowed ‘It just works’ Apple was the Mac. The company is more than 20 times that company today, but drive-by shootings occurred then and they’re ongoing today. Apple is an easy target with a high profile so technology critics who can’t shoot straight love to drive by One Infinite Loop every few weeks.

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About Jeffrey Mincey

As a Mac, Windows, and Linux system administrator in Atlanta, Georgia, I've used Macs for almost 30 years (mostly late at night). Read more of my articles here. Check out my Mac tips, tricks, and app reviews at Bohemian Boomer.

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